Posts tagged: breast cancer research

For Christina Handley, raising money for cancer related causes has deep personal meaning. It’s her calling. Christina has been struck with the disease on two occasions, once with her own diagnosis, a rare form of cancer that one in a million women experience, and second, with her life long friend, a beautiful Belgian mare she grew up with, named Reba. “I received my diagnosis a year to the day that Reba passed on,” Christina explained from her farm house in Kewartha Lakes, Ontario, a rural community of approximately 150 people. “But I have to say that despite all these challenges this disease brought into my life, the reason I succeeded is because of attitude and support from people.” Christina Handley is happy to report that her cancer has been in remission for over a year and a half.

Support during the ordeal came from her husband Boyd, a man she affectionately calls her “rock”, from friends in her local community, and from friends far away. “One friend took two months off work to drive me to my appointments while another drove all the way from Virginia to be with me. I also felt such love and support when I took in a cancer fundraising relay during my treatment. It was experiences like this that kept me going. I decided to assemble a team of friends shortly afterward for The Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life. We raised $20,000. Our goal was $2500.”

For Handley, exceeding expectations has become a way of life, her most recent experience with her daily journal providing the seed for a fundraising cookbook from Gateway Publishing. “I started to journal my story and then left the book at the treatment centre to share with people. I came back after the weekend, the whole time wondering if I had done the right thing, to find several stories written in it. We’ve taken these stories and placed them anonymously inside our cookbook. Stories of the personal journeys with cancer have made our cookbook that much more special.”

Handley’s cookbook, entitled “Fightin’ Fillies”, includes stories from everyday people undergoing cancer treatments. There are even a few from clinic volunteers, each a nice complement to the book’s wide range of recipes (courtesy of friends and family). Handley chose Gateway to print her cookbook after seeing another Gateway customer, Breasts of Friends on CBC’s Dragon’s Den. “They liked Gateway so I figured I would, and working with them was great. They took me through each step of the process, which ran very smoothly. The books just arrived and they look beautiful.”

Given the book’s beautiful cover and its unique personal stories of people touched by cancer, she’ll have absolutely no problem doing exactly that, and given Gateway’s profitable fundraising cookbook formula, there’ll be plenty available for a good cause.

The first book, “For The Breasts of Friends”, was produced to help the women deal with the grief of losing friends and family members to breast cancer. Featuring 400+ recipes from the authors, along with breast cancer facts, advice, and heartwarming quotes for women, the book quickly surpassed its modest sales targets and has already raised more than $500,000 to date.

A follow-up cookbook, titled “For the Breasts and the Rest of Friends” was produced in 2006, and it became a national bestseller in just one month. Like its predecessor, the book includes more than 400 recipes along with helpful breast cancer-related information, quotes, and quips intended to both empathize with and inspire those dealing — directly or indirectly — with the illness. The recipes in this edition were donated by family and friends of the authors.

In 2008, the group released a third fundraising cookbook destined for best-selling status — which it achieved based on pre-orders alone. “Breast Wishes from Breast Friends”, was released before Mother’s Day last year and includes recipes gathered from breast cancer survivors. It’s dedicated to women living with and in spite of breast cancer.

Priced at $19.95 each, the cookbooks are an excellent fundraiser because they are both affordable and represent good value. From an initial order of just 2500 copies, the group has re-ordered many times at larger quantities that enable greater discounts and a reduced per-unit cost.

“We’re proud to partner with The Breast Friends and are thrilled for their achievements,” says Rhonda Pineau, Sales and Marketing Manager of Gateway Publishing’s cookbooks department. “They’ve proven that cookbooks can be a recipe for fundraising success!”